Democrats for Bloomberg ... and Others

The purpose of the gathering held at the Brooklyn Marriott on Friday was to announce the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg by a slew of Brooklyn Democrats, including Assemblywoman Adele Cohen, Councilmember Domenic Recchia, and self-described "ultra-liberal" New Era Democrats President Mary Sansone.

As she introduced the mayor, Sansone elicited laughter from the crowd of about fifty when she said she had been "born a socialist." But despite Sansone's apparent leftist zeal, Friday wasn't the first time she's supported a Republican cause. In 1993, she donated money to Rudy Giuliani's mayoral campaign, and in 1997, she gave to Jules Polonetsky, Giuliani's choice for Public Advocate.

But what's in a party label, anyhow? Bloomberg followed short addresses by Sansone, Recchia, and Cohen with a speech in which he compared himself to Fiorello LaGuardia and downplayed the significance of party affiliations. "The mayor's job is not to play politics," he said. "The mayor's job is to get things done."